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Hairy Situation: TLC For Summer-Stressed Tresses

Has your hair taken a toll after all those visits to the beach and the pool? Have the summer rays dulled your previously vibrant hair color or brought out the wench-like frizzies on your head? Whatever your summer hair gripe, we’ve got a product to address the issue at hand.

I could write this leave-in conditioner love letters – shoo, I could pull a move like Mr. Big in Sex and The City: The Movie and copy love letters from Napoleon, Voltaire, and Beethoven. My hair can get so dry and overstressed — especially during the summer months — that it needs more than a meek conditioner you can rinse out after 3-5 minutes. The Beachcomber Leave-In Conditioner swathes your hair with moisturizing, replenishing nutrients that penetrate and repair hair follicles. This top-of-the-line product contains red, blue, and green sea algae, as well as sea kelp extract, sea water, and marine peptides — all of which focus on both short-term and long-term moisture retention. When you spritz it on, the conditioner adds lift and texture, helping our hair bounce back to shape as quickly as a bungee cord.

To me, coconut the ultimate fruity summer scent. Some equate summer with citrus fragrances, but I go nutty for coconuts. This hair mask not only hydrates your tresses, but it smells incredible. It’s such a treat that, to me, the ideal scenario would involve applying it onto damp hair, putting on a shower cap, wrapping a towel turban-style around my head, and then laying on a poolside-style plastic chair with a frozen daiquiri, letting the summer’s rays naturally heat up the conditioning treatment for optimum results. Rich moisturizing ingredients like shea butter, mango butter, and murumuru seed butter soften and hydrate hair, while grape seed, coconut and soybean oils smooth and maximize sheen.

I’ve tried many a styling serum, but this one is among my favorites since it gives your hair a bit of hold without making it stiff or greasy. Another plus is that you can apply dry hair (as well as damp hair, of course) — which means you can touch up your ‘do as often as you need without leaving any visible product residue.

If you’re a beauty junkie, you’ve probably been hearing all the buzz surrounding Moroccanoil: how it adds shine without leaving your hair looking and feeling oily, how it moisturizes even the most damaged hair, how it can actually help your hair absorb color if you apply it prior to any dye job… So is it really worth all the hype? Yes — it deserves all the kudos and a few Arsenio Hall-esque “Woot! Woot!” cheers as well. The Moroccanoil treatment has been my best friend this summer, leaving my hair looking healthier than ever and feeling softer than 500-thread Egyptian cotton sheets. Formulated with argan oil (a natural antioxidant and humectant), this lightweight oil restores elasticity and moisture to your hair. All you have to do is apply a tiny amount (you don’t need more than a silver dollar’s worth of product) to damp hair and then style as you wish. When your hair dries, you’ll notice it looks shiny and rich. Even if you just put it up in a ponytail, that ponytail will wave from side to side like the most determined and alluring pendulum. It’s a must-have for every gal!

John Frieda has mastered the science of keeping frizz at bay (and we’re forever grateful!). The Weather Works Weather-Proofing Style Sealant Cream ensures the same level of protection even when faced with harsher weather elements such as high levels of humidity — and it won’t give you “helmet head” syndrome (or leave your hair feeling like an overly starched dress shirt collar) while doing so. This isn’t a moisturizer so do remember to add a nice leave-in conditioner or moisturizing oil prior to applying the style cream!

Normally, the word mousse would send me flying in the other direction (well, unless you were referring to a chocolate-y dessert!), since so many mousses can make hair feel crunchier than Frito-Lay potato chips and also leave behind a white, dandruff-like residue (so not sexy!). This frothy styling aid, however, won’t dry out your hair, and it does manage to infuse a bit of bounce into any waves or curls that might have grown limp from dehydration and overprocessing. Plus, it smells like a melon cocktail — yum!

Graham Webb Silk Protein Leave-In Conditioner, $14.95. Available at professional salons nationwide. To find a salon near you, visit GrahamWebb.com

This lightweight leave-in conditioner, with its potent mix of silk proteins and keratin amino acids, actually also functions as a detangler so that, as you smooth it onto hair, you can also feel the strands separating naturally, making that mop more manageable.

I call this my “lioness spray” because it adds a va-va-voom volume to my hair. Some hair styling aids might add some boost to your curls, but this one creates a very animalistic, seductive, messy-but-sexy effect. If you have wavy or curly hair, the Surf Spray isn’t going to necessarily shape or mold these ringlets but, rather, it will create that I-just-took-a-ride-in-the-convertible-with-the-top-down effect, where your hair has volume and energy without looking too precise and put-together.

This is not a gel, ladies! Sure, it might look like a hair gel, but don’t get it twisted: unlike hair gels which contain polymer resins that dry up atop the hair, hardening the surface and even leading to hair breakage, the Ecru Marine Styling Balm provides the necessary amount of hold and control while tending to your mane. The clear balm contains silk protein, which laves hair looking shiny and feeling smooth, as well as nourishing seaweed extract, strengthening keratin, volume amplifying wheat protein, moisturizing agent panthenol, soothing chamomile, and linden flower extract (which helps to restore elasticity).

When you first pump some of this clear leave-in conditioner onto the palm of your hand, you might do a double-take and scan the bottle to make sure you didn’t reach for the hair gel by accident. Don’t worry — while it looks like it will be sticky, this product is almost as thin and easy to glide on as an oil-based serum. Formulated with organic chamomile and olive oil (which condition the hair and increase softness and shine), as well as strengthening soy milk and restorative Biotin, Pureology’s EssentialRepair InstaRepair also includes the line’s trademark Antifade Complex, a mixture of vitamins C and E, melanin and heliogenol which provides UVA/UVB protection and helps retain hair coloring. It moisturizes so well that even your ends feel a bit smoother and less jagged, and it won’t weigh hair down. Talk about a Mr. Fix It!

Designed for curly-haired gals of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, the Mixed Chicks Leave-In Conditioner features jojoba and primrose oils to soften and moisturize hair. The product’s packaging, look, and texture reminds me of the old-school Alberto V05 conditioners (before the line got a hip makeover). It’s thicker than most leave-in conditioners, so it does weigh your hair down a wee bit, but it does hydrate your hair, adding definition to your curls, and leaving them looking tighter and sprightlier.

Perhaps this experience sound familiar: you spend a day laying in the sun, apply sunblock on your skin, and emerge with a nice golden tan — and yet you have a pounding headache and your scalp feels tender and sore. So you traipse along to your bathroom mirror to better examine the situation and discover that your scalp is red and swollen because you neglected to protect it from the sun’s UVA/UVB rays. Yes, ladies, we often forget all about our scalp — and that can not only lead to sunburn but also to hair damage. To be on the safe side before a day of fun in the sun, spray some of Nioxin’s Scalp Shield onto your dry scalp, making sure to distribute throughout your whole head. I suggest massaging it lightly as you move from section to section. The spray isn’t heavy or greasy, and it will keep your hair and scalp protected.